iPhone Studio Update

We sincerely appreciate the many emails and phone calls we've received asking when registration for the iPhone Studio will open. It means a lot to us that you'd take the time to ask. It's a confusing situation, and we know you're frustrated. We're frustrated, too. At the same time, we're committed to offering this Studio in a way that doesn't put you (or us) on shaky legal ground. For the time being, that means postponing it. Here's some background on the situation and where we stand:

To develop iPhone applications, you need to download the iPhone SDK. The SDK is the set of libraries and tools that Apple created to allow developers to write applications on the iPhone platform. To get the SDK, you must agree to the terms and conditions (it's that checkbox next to the fine print). It's a fairly typical legal document that's easy to overlook. Let's face it, we're all guilty of clicking Accept on long legal agreements without reading the fine print. In this case, however, the fine print has some unfortunate limitations, including clauses that are what people refer to when they talk about the NDA. For example, in Section 3, you're agreeing not to "disclose, publish, or disseminate any Confidential Information to anyone other than to other Registered iPhone Developers who are employees and contractors working for the same entity as you and then only to the extent that Apple does not otherwise prohibit such disclosure in this Agreement."

There are two parts to consider here. First, what's confidential information? Well, it's safe to say that anything known generally by the public isn't confidential. And in fact there's quite a bit of software inside your iPhone that's widely known by developers. For example, the OS X kernel environment (called Darwin) is open source. It's the core of the iPhone OS. But trying to develop iPhone applications using only the libraries in the core OS would be tedious at best. That's where the iPhone SDK comes in. It's the layer of software that sits between your application and the operating system, making your job as a developer a lot easier. The iPhone SDK, however, is not publicly available. Indeed, it's at the center of what Apple considers confidential information. So while it's true that anyone with an Apple Developer Connection (ADC) account can download the SDK, they must agree to the confidentiality clause.

Now, a reasonable person might assume that two people who agree to the terms and conditions can exchange information about the iPhone SDK. Unfortunately, that's not the case. The second part states that these two people must also be "employees and contractors working for the same entity". In our case, students are neither employees or contractors of The Pragmatic Studio.

And that brings us to the crux of why we can't currently teach this course: the NDA prevents us from sharing information about the iPhone SDK with students. When we first scheduled the iPhone Studio, we had every reason to believe that the NDA would be lifted when the iPhone 2.1 software shipped in September. Typically, pre-release NDAs such as this one are lifted when the product finally ships. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened.

Some have suggested that we take advantage of loopholes, such as employing students as subcontractors for the duration of the Studio. While those legal tricks may work on paper, they might not hold water. In either case, we're simply not comfortable putting our students in this position.

You may have heard that Apple recently started the iPhone Developer University Program. As it's aimed toward companies in the educational field, we plan to apply. That said, we don't expect to get approved. The program is currently available only to accredited, higher education institutions. We're a small (two person) training company, but it's worth a shot.

We are aware that other training companies are offering iPhone courses. Many of you have called and written to ask why we haven't moved forward with them. We simply can't speak to how others choose to conduct business. (We do worry they're putting their students at risk.) We know we've done everything possible to seek approval from Apple. They've been very receptive to our questions. They've also assured us that nobody has been given special permission to teach specifics of the iPhone SDK. So we're confident that we're doing the right thing by not offering this course at this time, frustrating as it may be for everyone.

We hope you'll be patient with us. Please know that we'll open registration as soon as we can legally teach the course. We honestly don't know when/if that will happen. We'd be happy to send you an email update if you're on our notify list. We'll also post updates to this blog.

In the meantime, we believe attending the upcoming Cocoa Studio is a great first step. Once you get the hang of Objective-C and Cocoa, you'll be more confident to start developing iPhone applications using the iPhone SDK.

Thank you for continuing to support us. Please don't hesitate to call or email with questions... or if you just need to vent. :-)

Update: Apple dropped the NDA today (October 1). We'll open registration for the iPhone Studio as soon as we nail down the dates, hopefully within the next several days.

Comments

[Nathan Clark]

I love the IPhone, and I'm a ruby developer with several simple ideas for the IPhone SDK. I really want to learning how to use the SDK. So far my only resource has been the Apple IPhone SDK site. But I find it much easier to learn topics when I can read them from multiple points of view(blogs,postcasts,tutorials,etc).

I see this as community support of an SDK. I am use to seeing this community support in other SDKs. It seems like a no brainer. If I were an SDK I'd want to encourage community adaptation, instead of assume that this SDK is entitled to followership(new word?). And when I see how Apple uses this NDA to stifle collaboration, its a little upsetting.

I was really looking forward to the Pragmatic Iphone SDK book. I Check the site multiple times in hopes that the release date might have moved sooner. I read about your iNDA issues yesterday, and it makes me hope that Android really catches on. Android has a growing community support framework. Come on iNDA! I really hope the book does see the light of day.

[Brad]

Why do I get the feeling Apple is making a ploy to monopolize the training by going through accredited universities that have to give kick back to them. Not that smart. Apple may have revolutionized the Phone industry, this easily seen by the competition following there lead. But just because they came up with the idea and was first to market, doesn't mean they will stay on top. Android with its open source, will have a strong following. Apple should wake up, before they are put down.

[Phil Wright]

I also love the iPhone. New apps are appearing daily and the ability to instantly see flickr pictures near you, take pictures and post instantly and on and on... is fascinating to me -- a whole new world!

I had planned to attend the iPhone studio but knew that the NDA had to be lifted in order for you to move forward. I have been creating sample applications in order to learn the programming on my own.

I chose to attend the upcoming Cocoa and Objective-C training. After using the iPhone SDK I can see that the main framework behind it is Cocoa and Objective-C. You also need a strong knowledge of XCode and Interface Builder. All of these will be taught in the training.

I would definitely recommend the Cocoa training as a first step (and I believe a giant one) to becoming a strong, iPhone Developer.